The united opinion. [volume] (Bradford, Vt.) 1881-1970, 1887-02-25
THE "ANoEL MAKER" OF TEXAS.
Tho Deadly Continuance Devised to Stop
the Practice OF Fence Cutting.

Tho Deadly Continuance Devised to Stop
the Practice Of Fence Cutting.
During the course of conversation Mr..
Wrcnn became confidential, and this Is his
story: ~ havo solved tho question of fence
cutting in Texas to a certainty, and In less
than three months you will never hear Of
a wire fence being molested."
I'm what manner do you propose to stop
1t, Mr.. Wronnp' was asked.
~ will show you," no answered, and
opening q large valise no took out qucor
looking object and continues: "Horo Is tho
angel maker, patented and guaranteed to
kill and demolish more fenco cuttors in ton
minutes than you can haul of in freight
car"
The "angel maker" as Mr.. Wrenn hos
facetiously christened his terrible produc-
ton, is simply a pear-shaped, hollow bemb
made Of cast iron. The casting is ono
eighth Of an inch thick, and tho small end
can DO unscrewed, showing q cavity capable
of holding something over pint. After
unscrewing the top and showing tho empty
bomb, Mr. Wrenn continues: "Imanufact-
ured tho first ofb these bombs during the
summer, but was not able to put them on
tho market until fow weeks ago, since
which time have sold In Texas alone over
quarter Of million bombs. They are
operated thus: The top is unscrewed and
tho bomb filled with an explosive gelatine,
also manufactured by mo, compound that
is much stronger than dynamite This COM
pound will only explode by heavy shock,
either by electricity or otherwise At the
top Of the lid il a small aperture where the
cap or exploder is inserted To this little
knob very fine copper wire is attached
and cut OF at any desired length. The
owner Of the fence makes On excavation
twelve or eighteen inches deep about every
100 yards along the line Of his fence, usually
near the post, and places an angel maker
in each hole. He then runs the fine wire up
the post in order to conceal it, and fastens
it to the bottom wire of tho fence. The
bomb is utterly harmless up to now. ne
then moves q littlc-screw half an inch to the
right, which presses the cap firmly down
into the gelatine He replaces the dirt in
tho hole and conceals it with trash.
"The fence cutter will never SEQ tho little
wire coming out Of the ground, but with his
nippers will clip the barbcd WIRE When no
cuts tho wire it always jerks violently
toward the post, being tightly stretched.
This easily explodes tho friction cap. One
OF these angel makers placed eighteen
inches under ground will blow out an ex-
cavation like O cellar and hurl rock and
dirt hundreds of feet in every direction.
The conclusion alone will kill man or beast
within sixty feet, and man within seventy
five yards will not be very likely to escape un-
injured. At IN experiment made near Little
Rock stone weighing over 100 pounds was
blown 100 feet. The destructive force OF
this gelatine is terrific. have correspondent
with many men in Texas who have suffered
from fence cutters, and nearly all have
given me orders, and the bombs are being
shipped in harmless form oil over the
state do not have the least doubt of fence
cutting stopping just as soon as the fence
cutters understand the danger they face.
OF course some few win 60 ahead and will
be blown into mince meat, but their friends
will soon catch on to the racket, so to
speak, and then fence cutting will be at
an end. Fort Worth Cor. New York
Times